PIER GETS AN EVEN BREAK

Worn planks with rough surface being replaced on Oceanside pier; work done at night to minimize disruptions

Oceanside 
Work is under way at the Oceanside Municipal Pier that will give the 26-year-old structure a smoother surface and greater stability.

A crew of seven workers started this week removing worn and uneven planks in the midsection of the pier that make it difficult for people in wheelchairs or strollers to roll over them.

Harbour Constructors Co. of Garden Grove is handling the work, which is taking place at night to minimize disruptions to visitors.

The same firm was hired by the city three years ago to replace planks near the Ruby’s Restaurant section of the pier, said company owner Greg Buchanan, who was on site this week supervising the construction.

“It’s like clockwork when you already know what you’re doing,” he said.

Buchanan said it will take the crew about two weeks to replace about 130 rows of boards spanning about 190 feet of the pier. Each board is placed at a 45 degree angle across the 22-foot wide deck.

About half of the pier will be closed on the west end from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., Monday through Thursday, until the work is complete.

Pier regulars are happy to see the improvements.

“If it needs to be done, I’m glad it’s being done,” said Andy Boswell, 29, who was fishing off the pier for crab and lobster with a hoop net Monday night. “It will make the pier look a little nicer and smoother, which is good because sometimes I need to wheel stuff in.”

The 1,942-foot pier is one of the city’s main attractions, drawing hundreds of visitors and fishermen each week. But residents have complained for years about its stretches of worn and uneven decking, broken steel braces and outdated restrooms.

A 2007 study on the pier’s condition — conducted by Blaylock Marine Engineering Services — found it was structurally sound but needed attention. The report said nearly 200 of the pier’s 1,089 metal braces needed to be replaced, along with most of the wooden planks on the deck.

The city has been steadily tackling those projects, said Frank Quan, Oceanside’s harbor and beaches director.

“We are continuously working on the pier,” Quan said.

Most of the old and uneven planks have been replaced, except for two areas: a stretch of the pier’s midsection, where crews are working now, and the “hammerhead” area at the western end of the pier near Ruby’s Restaurant.

When the current decking work is finished, another company will begin replacing some of the broken and rusted braces, Quan said.

Earlier this year, the City Council voted to spend $90,000 to replace the 190-foot section of decking on the pier. The council also voted to spend $125,000 to replace 31 of the broken steel pipe braces.

Those funds do not include the $238,000 the city earmarked on its budget for routine pier maintenance, such as cleaning the restrooms and replacing the broken wood rails.

In June, the City Council set aside about $3 million to spruce up and replace several aging restrooms at Oceanside beaches, including those on the pier. That money came from the $5.6 million the city netted when it sold its lease for the Laguna Vista Mobile Estates.

Other piers in the county have had similar maintenance work in recent years.

The Imperial Beach Pier built in 1963 is undergoing a $420,000 restoration project. The Unified Port District of San Diego is replacing about 70 percent of the pier’s planks.

In Pacific Beach, the Crystal Pier was closed for several months for repairs after a storm in late 2008 caused severe damage.

Oceanside’s first pier was built in 1888 at Wisconsin Street, according to the city’s website. A severe winter storm destroyed the pier a few years later.

Subsequent piers were built at the current location on Pier View Way in 1894, 1903 and 1927, according to the Oceanside Historical Society. The current and sixth pier cost $5 million to build and was opened to the public on Sept. 29, 1987.